Back in the Diaper Again
Well today it's become apparent that my little hobo sanctuary rabbit, Rebecca, who has lived here inside the house with for nearly 5 years, is in diapers for good now.
Maybe some of you read my article detailing Rebecca's experience with disability called, "Caring for a Disabled Rabbit." In it, I talk about how she was once partially paralyzed and used a wheelchair. She also had to wear a diaper due to incontinence. She got over both of those but she has been struggling with incontinence again recently.
She's been taking Bethanacol, a drug to help her bladder muscle tone because she had bladder sludge. Ouch! That is when a rabbit has a sandy sludge in their urine and as you can imagine, it must hurt to pee! Well she seems to have gotten rid of the bladder sludge but the incontinence is back. So she will get a messy butt from having stuff stick to her wet butt including poop and hay.
I really don't like having to give her a butt bath every day but I've been doing it. She is so good about all this but I know she hates it too. I love that old rabbit. She loves me too. She is such an inspiration to me. So to keep her butt from getting all messy and her tissue-thin skin there getting urine scald, she's back in diapers, this time for good.
She wears a size 1 Huggies. We have the system down really good now for changing her about every four hours. I get a plastic grocery bag and put her bottom half in it and open the diaper and it plops right off. Then I hoist her out of there and she does a twist while I pull a new diaper on her, from one side to the other, she twists at just the right time for me to seal the little belt. As she does the twist, she licks my arm which is really touching to me. It tells me she is glad I'm changing the diaper and that having worn it all day makes her feel good.
When she first started wearing them again earlier this week, she had a little trouble hopping around. She has such a funny hop anyway. Her hind feet do a hop but then they fall out behind her so her the top of her foot is flat on the floor. Then she swings her feet around like she's paddling and does it all again. It's a very strange bunny hop but let me tell you, she can book down the hallway faster than I can run after her!
I guess I'll have to do some butt baths now and then depending on when her cecals come. Oh and that reminds me! Joy of joys, I will have to feed her cecals to her since she won't be able to get to them in her diaper. Those are the recycled poops of the rabbit. They ferment their poop in their cecum and then eat it. It's how they draw the nutrition out of the hay. It's probably the only nutrition they get since veggies basically have no nutrition. Did you know that? Yea veggies these days are just for appearance.
So I will have to feed those cecals to her. I'll do a post on cecals soon. I have some great shots of cecal logs!
Here's my little hobo in her diaper looking all comfy and dry. This picture is actually from a couple of years ago but it's still the same bag of diapers I'm using today and she looks pretty much the same. Still beautiful and still the sweetest old lady rabbit you could ever meet. Bleckie!
Maybe some of you read my article detailing Rebecca's experience with disability called, "Caring for a Disabled Rabbit." In it, I talk about how she was once partially paralyzed and used a wheelchair. She also had to wear a diaper due to incontinence. She got over both of those but she has been struggling with incontinence again recently.
She's been taking Bethanacol, a drug to help her bladder muscle tone because she had bladder sludge. Ouch! That is when a rabbit has a sandy sludge in their urine and as you can imagine, it must hurt to pee! Well she seems to have gotten rid of the bladder sludge but the incontinence is back. So she will get a messy butt from having stuff stick to her wet butt including poop and hay.
I really don't like having to give her a butt bath every day but I've been doing it. She is so good about all this but I know she hates it too. I love that old rabbit. She loves me too. She is such an inspiration to me. So to keep her butt from getting all messy and her tissue-thin skin there getting urine scald, she's back in diapers, this time for good.
She wears a size 1 Huggies. We have the system down really good now for changing her about every four hours. I get a plastic grocery bag and put her bottom half in it and open the diaper and it plops right off. Then I hoist her out of there and she does a twist while I pull a new diaper on her, from one side to the other, she twists at just the right time for me to seal the little belt. As she does the twist, she licks my arm which is really touching to me. It tells me she is glad I'm changing the diaper and that having worn it all day makes her feel good.
When she first started wearing them again earlier this week, she had a little trouble hopping around. She has such a funny hop anyway. Her hind feet do a hop but then they fall out behind her so her the top of her foot is flat on the floor. Then she swings her feet around like she's paddling and does it all again. It's a very strange bunny hop but let me tell you, she can book down the hallway faster than I can run after her!
I guess I'll have to do some butt baths now and then depending on when her cecals come. Oh and that reminds me! Joy of joys, I will have to feed her cecals to her since she won't be able to get to them in her diaper. Those are the recycled poops of the rabbit. They ferment their poop in their cecum and then eat it. It's how they draw the nutrition out of the hay. It's probably the only nutrition they get since veggies basically have no nutrition. Did you know that? Yea veggies these days are just for appearance.
So I will have to feed those cecals to her. I'll do a post on cecals soon. I have some great shots of cecal logs!
Here's my little hobo in her diaper looking all comfy and dry. This picture is actually from a couple of years ago but it's still the same bag of diapers I'm using today and she looks pretty much the same. Still beautiful and still the sweetest old lady rabbit you could ever meet. Bleckie!
posted by Bright Eyes Sanctuary at
2:06 AM
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